Valve is a great company and I can't wait to see what they come up with. However oculus has had years more development time to work out the kinks. Vr is a fragile experience and even a small problem can ruin it. That's why they have been so pomderously slow at development. Personally, I'm still casting my vote for the one that has had more Dev time.
The Vive discussion Thread
- Thread starter vanfanel
- Start date
Seeing is one thing, but owning and enjoying are quite another. Have you got a Rift?
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No but I have played DK1 and 2 several times. I recently picked up a brand new gaming rig in preparation for it, so MSX GTX 980 4GB, 16GB RAM, i7 processor etc. The controls for the Vive are what's really caught my attention so far, I'm still considering picking up an OR just for Elite so what do I know! Too impatient!
I do feel as if OR have lost their footing a fair bit.
What concerns me is that FD could now stall any further VR development until the market crystalises and they know what target they need to aim for. I'm not saying that they will (complete guess work) but if they have a lot of other development work lined up and don't have infinite resource, then surely they're likely to prioritise their resources elsewhere until the situation is clear.
If VR code is easily portable between the different VR platforms then I guess it's less of an issue - and perhaps strengthens the position of VR development being an investment for the company. if anyone knows the answer to this, I'd be keen to know.
Being first to market isn't going to make anyone a winner for this. Being the first to market with a reasonable screen res and no judder at the lowest price point (including GPU requirements) is going to give the best advantage. Obviously visor-hardware & SDK will only take you so far down that road. It all needs to be blended with advances in GPU tech & integrated by development. I can't help but feel that we're at least two years away from this really being a mass market thing.
I don't know that it'd make sense not to support any decent VR headset. It's such a game seller at shows, it's a feature than punches above its weight. Minds are blown by that stuff.
Visit all sorts of Rift enthusiast communities on Them Intertubes, and you'll see people talking about it as the best thing to play in VR, bar none- so it cuts both ways. FD have been red hot about Rift and TrackIR support, anything to let people increase the jaw-dropping immersion factor. It's what the game is for, after all. That said, it'd be good once Oculus get the Direct implementation a bit more reliable if more games (including ED) could use that- it'd reduce hassle.
Anyway, I can't be the only one who'd buy whichever brand of headset that got a full-fat consumer version to market first, despite possibly having an existing DK2. The Rift already has support in the game I care about, and I'd expect the VIVE to get it too.
Oh, and if Half Life 3 came out as a VIVE pack-in, then it's all over bar the shouting.. I can dream, can't I?
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Considering the vive will be availabe before the oculus CV1 i hope elite will support it.
Yes i will buy the vive and yes i will probably buy the CV1 as well.
Just curious.. How do you know that Vive will be released before CV1?
I mean Valve has announced a Q4 release while Oculus has not announced anything yet. For all we know the product is in production and could be released along with an announcement at E3.
Speculation, for sure, but so is yours above.
At this time I'm not committed to any manufacturer, will watch to see how things develop (may end up with both). I like a bit of competition and it's interesting to see different styles.
"Valve to offer HTC Vive Developer Edition for free"
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2015/03/valve-to-offer-htc-vive-developer-edition-for-free/
I guess it encourages adoption, which in turn helps with content. Also letting anyone pay for a DK product when a CV1 is within sight might not make sense?
"Valve to offer HTC Vive Developer Edition for free"
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2015/03/valve-to-offer-htc-vive-developer-edition-for-free/
I guess it encourages adoption, which in turn helps with content. Also letting anyone pay for a DK product when a CV1 is within sight might not make sense?
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That's a very strange assertion and train of logic, given that Valve have been messing with VR quietly for years, too. They have all sorts of skunkworks projects that never see the light of day in a recognisable form.
Also, a lot of the tech needed isn't new or invented by Oculus. A lot of positional tracking and realtime 3D graphics frobnication is far more advanced in commercial mocap and biomechanics applications- it's not like it's a novel and unexpected kind of alchemy. Building down to a pricepoint is the cleverest thing that both Oculus and HTC/Valve are doing- they can't afford to charge as much as the Vicons of this world- to state the obvious. Oculus are doing great work, developing consumer-grade baby versions of tech that is far from peculiar to them.
The stuff that isn't fully understood, the perceptual stuff regarding sense of place and things like nausea effects are outside of the scope of the basic API libraries and HMD hardware anyway. Currently, things like that are the responsibility of the individual developers of titles, and will be broadly as severe across different flavours of similarly-specced HMDs.
I'm interested to see how OR's upgraded tracking will shake up, compared to the HTC/Valve system. They both seem to be showing things right now that are a lot more powerful than what we've seen shipped with the DK2. It will be cool to see things like this in my own home, rather than in expensive studio facilities
Interesting times, we have two fairly strong contenders pushing the cheap home user envelope for this stuff. I'm not inclined to blindly nail my colours to the mast of any given brand- as ever, I'm happy to go with whatever sucks less. I have a DK2 and am acutely aware of how primitive it is, but looking forward to seeing someone up the ante. What a time to be a nerd!
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Yeah i am only speculating obviously. And i hope i am wrong too.Just curious.. How do you know that Vive will be released before CV1?
I mean Valve has announced a Q4 release while Oculus has not announced anything yet. For all we know the product is in production and could be released along with an announcement at E3.
Speculation, for sure, but so is yours above.
Looking forward to hearing some feedback about it from those lucky devs!
E: D on the HTC Vive VR headset.
Have Frontier applied for a dev kit? It looks like I'll be a retail product well before the Rift and now that E: D is on Steam I presume they'll be pushing it over, or as well as the Rift.
Will we get to see one next time Frontier are out and about?
Edit: Arghhh. Can a mod edit the title. Vive not Vice. Damn autocorrect.
Edit: To add link to http://www.arstechnica.com/gaming/2015/04/vr-developers-can-now-apply-for-free-htc-vive-dev-kits/
Have Frontier applied for a dev kit? It looks like I'll be a retail product well before the Rift and now that E: D is on Steam I presume they'll be pushing it over, or as well as the Rift.
Will we get to see one next time Frontier are out and about?
Edit: Arghhh. Can a mod edit the title. Vive not Vice. Damn autocorrect.
Edit: To add link to http://www.arstechnica.com/gaming/2015/04/vr-developers-can-now-apply-for-free-htc-vive-dev-kits/
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I assume that this is one of the reason why they launched on Steam in the first place. Not the only reason, but certainly a contributing factor. It would be crazy if the didn't apply for one so I would be extremely surprised if they haven't.
Currently ED is a must have title for VR users and FD would be crazy not to plan for this when these VR headsets is officially released to the public.
Given some of the odious corporations involved in VR I am ambivalent.
I am really excited about VR and tech in general but I am also aware how the military industrial complex is using to enslave us rather than set us free.
TV and film has long been used for purposes of propaganda but VR will be one thousand times the more effective medium.
Still, that is a very large and deep debate and will I be plugging into the matrix? Hell yeah.
On Valve VR.
The fact they have already warned it will have a high price point and are keeping hardware requirements very quiet means that it will likely be aimed at the enthusiast market upon its release.
I don't think it will be in direct competition with Oculus as I expect this will be released with lower hardware requirements and at a much lower price point but also lower spec than the Steam offering.
Exciting times and competition is obviously good for we the consumer - just how many VR headsets are there in production right now anyway? At least half a dozen using various technologies and specifications with a lot of money behind them so VR should advance rapidly over the next few years. systems will become obsolete within two years and that will also be something to bear in mind when making a purchase.
I am really excited about VR and tech in general but I am also aware how the military industrial complex is using to enslave us rather than set us free.
TV and film has long been used for purposes of propaganda but VR will be one thousand times the more effective medium.
Still, that is a very large and deep debate and will I be plugging into the matrix? Hell yeah.
On Valve VR.
The fact they have already warned it will have a high price point and are keeping hardware requirements very quiet means that it will likely be aimed at the enthusiast market upon its release.
I don't think it will be in direct competition with Oculus as I expect this will be released with lower hardware requirements and at a much lower price point but also lower spec than the Steam offering.
Exciting times and competition is obviously good for we the consumer - just how many VR headsets are there in production right now anyway? At least half a dozen using various technologies and specifications with a lot of money behind them so VR should advance rapidly over the next few years. systems will become obsolete within two years and that will also be something to bear in mind when making a purchase.